Day 018 and 019/366:
I spent the whole day trying to do my last-minute packing and cleaned my room. I left the house at 9pm and boarded my flight at 11:30pm. I must say, Thai Airways is amazing. The food was great, the service was excellent and there were new movies available. I watched a Korean movie, Sunny; Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and attempted Friends with Benefits…
The first thing I noticed when I arrived to Thailand was it’s peculiar weather. It was around 34 degrees at five in the early morning. God bless my soul.
I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city (Vietnam) at around 10am and didn’t get to a hotel until 12pm. The traffic is so crazy here. Now that I know how to drive, I cringe every time the taxi driver stops barely an inch behind the other vehicle. And to think driving in the city in Melbourne is crazy because of the cyclists and pedestrians… Vietnam is 100 times worse. The drivers have to dodge motorbikes left and right, honk and brake non-stop. Pedestrians… or should I just say the Common Citizens of Jaywalking, just walk wherever they wish and expect all vehicles to make way for them, even if it’s like an equivalent main road with no enforceable traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and turning lanes. Yep, they all ignore the traffic laws here and the cops are corrupted as Hell so they don’t do anything at all. Offensive but true.
Day 017/366:
Mum woke me up at 9 in the early morning to call Monash uni up and to see what we can do about me being unable to attend the compulsory information day and enrolment.
I met a really assholish guy who was rushing through the call. For example, I asked him what I should do if I can’t attend enrolment day and he told me to give him my email, so I spelt it out for him but he kept getting it wrong so I repeated it about three times until he got it right. He sounded pretty annoyed that my email wasn’t after a fucking Anglo name, otherwise it would’ve been so much easier. I had so many other things I wanted to confirm and ask but he just hanged up after he said he’ll email the instructions to me. How rude.
After receiving the email, I figured out how to enrol for my units online and did my timetable (though it’s not confirmed that I will get it?). One of the reasons I picked Monash was because they offered Korean language, but it’s in the Clayton campus whereas I am going to Caulfield. Sucks.
I watched my sister and dad paint the walls in her room green. Although it’s a bit of a messy job, it looks very good and bright… very unlike my dull, plain room.
After all that, I went to Crown for my friend’s 18th celebration and we had early dinner at the Kitchen Workshop. The food was great but I was mainly fascinated by the Lemon, Lime and Bitters. Then we went to watch Sherlock Holmes and to say that it was just a good movie does not do it enough justice. It is by far the best movie I’ve watched since Harry Potter (and mind you, I probably only liked the movie because I’ve always been a HP die-hard fan). I love, love, love every bit of it and now I will definitely have to watch the first one.
A massive zit is sticking out of my chin like a sicko and I’m currently dying from blisters, but today has ended swimmingly.
Day 016/366:
I’ve been having a really great day. My friends came over in the morning and we went grocery shopping to cook lunch. We made steak sandwiches which was very nice but the steak was slightly chewy. Never mind that.
We went on the VTAC site before 5pm and I was the first, among the four of us, to log on. No words could describe how happy I was at that moment when I found out I got into Arts/Management at Monash University. I never really planned on doing this course because I didn’t think I would make it in, but I added it onto my preference list after we received our ATAR scores anyway. I find it a great convenience compared to the course I originally wanted to get into which was Criminal Justice Administration at RMIT because I can do it at Monash as well.
I’m so happy for all my friends who got into the course they wanted. You should have heard me scream when I found out my friends got into their desired courses as well. Joy.
Day 015/366:
Today I didn’t sleep in as I would usually because I made plans with my mum to go temple and help wrap sticky rice cakes. But we ended up not going so she took off to DFO and came home with a pair of heels for me.
I went driving in the afternoon to Albert Park Lake, and I forgot to bring my camera again so here’s a photo that I took from Sydney at their Botanic Gardens. It looks similar anyway.
I drove to Toorak after that and my god, they have such lovely buildings and houses, which would be more fitting if I called them manors. Nine out of the ten cars I encounter was either a Porche, Lamborghini or Mercedes, or a convertible. Or something that looks too expensive to drive next to my Corolla 2006 model. I was so fascinated to the point where I didn’t go at a green light and my dad had to nudge me.
It was a pleasant day.
Day 014/366:
Just when I thought I had a life, reality kicked in today and told me to stay at home the whole day.
I spent my whole day sleeping and eating and playing games.
Fact: I’ve been collecting 20c, 50c and $1 coins for years now. Although I don’t have a lot, I still consider it collection. I can’t wait until I go Vietnam on Wednesday and collect their notes.
I came across the cutest and funniest photo of my little sister. She had esotropia as a kid where her eyes were always crossed and she reminded me so much of a cartoon character.
I had pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And two boiled eggs for supper. Someone please tell me I’m not going to develop some sort of illness from an unhealthy diet before I start uni.
Day 012 and 013/366:
Yesterday, my dad wanted me to drive along the Great Ocean Road. But no thank you. That little booger is way more dangerous than the road to Kinglake and when I had to go to Kinglake the other day, I was tired, sleepy and freaking out despite driving 60kph-and-less. So I pretended to take a long-ass nap and he eventually gave up waiting for me and worked on his daily alcoholic needs. I spent the rest of the day like a true bored kid in the holidays and watched Vampire Diaries.
Today, on Friday the thirteenth, I went for a drive around Sunshine to practice my left turns because apparently I always hit the curb. In the afternoon, I drove my mum and sister to do a bit of shopping because they wanted to leave the house and I end up getting a body moisturiser and some face gel thing that’s supposed to make it look matte. My mum paid for the moisturiser because I told her how my hands are all wrinkly and they look as old as grandma’s. So she told me to suck it up and that she’ll buy me it so I can stop annoying her. Well, she didn’t really say it in those exact words… but close enough.
I’m getting really slack at this 366 daily thing. I promise to take more new photos.
Day 011/366:
Today I drove to Vicroads. I’m not sure if “stakeout” is a good word to describe how I was spying on people getting tested for their Ps by following their route. But yes, I was doing exactly that. I followed two cars - the first driver failed because he hit the curb when turning left and didn’t do head checks when changing lanes.
I went to Officeworks with my mum and sister to help buy books and stationary. Then we went to Highpoint and did a bit of browsing around. I bought a dress that didn’t look very flattering on me/ looks like a night gown (I didn’t realise it until I got home) but it does look good as a shirt, so that’s how I’m going to label it from now on.
I had Vietnamese Shaking Beef for dinner and I must say, nothing beats your mum’s cooking. My tummy is literally growling for more right now.
I made a banana smoothie afterwards and I guess I should attach the photo to my resume and apply at Boost. It contains a blender full of bananas for the vitamins, condensed milk for the sweetness, milk for the goodness and ice for the coolness. I think we have a winner.
Day 010/366:
The day started off with me trying to make crepes. I failed miserably because I only had self-raising flour at home and the recipe required plain flour, so I ended up making pancakes. When I was making my pancake batter, one of the eggs had two yolks! Yay for twins.
I wrapped vanilla ice cream, honey and sliced bananas in my pancakes. I shall call this my “pancake wrap” which is quite handy when I’m in a rush to go somewhere in the morning and need breakfast and want pancakes. Yum.
I went for a drive in the afternoon to Bacchus March and Melton. On the way to Bacchus March has the most beautiful scenery I have seen by far in Victoria. If only I brought my camera to take a few landscape shots of the mountains and farms, trees, plants and flowers, roads that seem to go on forever… It’d be so lovely to watch the sun set and rise from there.
My cousin, who has been M.I.A for the past 5 years, came over at around 8pm. She was five years old when I last saw her - with two of her front baby teeth gone, short and lanky with very long hair. When she was five, she was the bubbliest kid I’ve met. I guess 5 years really ruined her. Because she’s only moved to Australia for 5 years, people consider her an outsider and don’t want to befriend her.
She told me how she doesn’t have any friends and the only people she ever speaks to is her teacher and her parents. She doesn’t know any children’s game other than hide and seek and snap with cards. So in the hour that she came to visit, I taught her how to play Go Fish and then a clapping game called Slime Time.
She has changed a lot. She’s become more quiet and reserved, more mature and less giggly. She has this sadness to her eyes which I don’t know if it’s supposed to tell me something even though she’s only 10. I love her eyes. She’s a bit on the plump side but I think she’s cute nonetheless. She brought over a book and told me how she would never try to write a story because it seems too hard, even though she loves reading. I told her she should try to write stories and so one day she could be an author to a book. She smiled at me and told me she wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. She asked me what my favourite colour was and was surprised to find that I have the same favourite colour as her - white.
I could go on forever about this little 9-year-old girl who I’ve only reunited for 1 hour. I love my cousin so much that it makes me sad knowing how horrible people are in ruining her childhood. She’s turning 10 in July and I asked if she was excited for her birthday - that she is going to be a two-digit soon and that won’t change until she hits 100-years-old. She said she wasn’t excited because being a teenager means more responsibilities. I felt like a loser next to her. When I was nine, I wanted to grow up quickly so I can become an adult… but this nine-year-old wants to stay young.
Day 009/366:
I didn’t really do anything eventful today. I tried to learn this piece on my keyboard but gave up after learning 10 seconds of the song. That’s right, my persistence wears off pretty fast.
I feel like I’ve gained so much weight - i.e. my face is rounder, my arms are flabbier, etc. So I guess I should go on a healthy diet. More fruit and vegetables and less junk food. There’s my new years resolution.
My package came in the mail in the early afternoon and I must say how surprised I was to see the BB cream at the size of my index finger. Oh well, it smells good and it gives a natural coverage. I can’t order more because I leave to Vietnam next week and it takes around 5-10 working days to arrive.
I tested out my new bottle today and poured hot tea in it. I burnt my tongue but it’s okay, I’m happy that it kept my tea hot for a long time and that it doesn’t burn my hand when I’m holding onto it. It’s been around 7-8 hours and my tea is still warm. Yay.
Day 008/366:
We left the house at 12pm and went to St Albans Festival. What I found hilarious was the bus we took were filled with Asian people, and so there was an instant conclusion (which shouldn’t be accepted) that they were coming to the festival with us.
We had pho for lunch (that’s not the actual pho I had - my mum made it a while ago) and awkwardly contemplated about the waiter. Afterwards, I had beef jerky which was nice but resulted me in about 10 glasses of water.
Mum took us back to my friend’s place and I took my things back home. Then mum and I went to DFO where I tried to find a new decent pair of jeans at Lee/Wrangler but it was either a design that I didn’t like or a design I liked without the size I required.
We went to pick my sister up at the festival after shopping and then I feasted until I felt like throwing up and drank so much water to the point I might be the reason to the drought in Australia. I hate you beef jerky.
I’m going to try and make macarons tomorrow.
